My Penny is Lost!

      A month ago the Canadian government abolished the penny! That's right . No more pennies for Canada. 


       The penny cost 1.6 cents to produce so to cut out the penny would save the government money. Now what could I buy for a penny?  I couldn't come up with an answer. In fact, what could I buy for 2,3,or 4 cents. I don't think we've been able to buy anything for a penny for a long time. The penny now has been used to set a neat sounding price like $4.99. So you come home every day and empty your pockets and the penny jar gets fuller each week. So I don't think the penny will be missed for monetary purposes.


      The government stopped making pennies on the day of the announcement. Pennies will be accepted in business for some limited time. Fund raisers have been quick to latch onto a good idea. Many penny jars have been set up for various charities to raise money. I noticed that the jars all had tons of pennies.


     Now one of the things not considered in doing away with the penny is the place it has in our language. Many sayings have been generated around the penny. The word penny is of British origin. Americans have chosen to use the term cent. Sayings that may die are: Penny or your thoughts; Shiny as a new penny; Cost a pretty penny; A penny saved is a penny earned; In for a penny; A bad penny always turns up; Penny ante; See a penny, pick it up, all day long you will have good luck. I would think these sayings would disappear over time. When the penny has been gone for several generations the use of these terms in our language will probably disappear.


    So a sad good bye to the penny which was sort of the work horse in our money system. How soon will it be before we discard the nickel?


       

Titanic Centennial

        Since  this week is the hundredth  anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, there has been much discussion on the news. 


       The sinking of the Titanic was a major disaster in several ways. Over 1500 people lost their lives. A major vessel was lost on it's first voyage. A comedy of errors occurred which led to the disaster.


     Over the last 100 years the Titanic sinking has provided the reason for many books to be written. People are still fascinated with the sinking. Many heroic tales have been told of how people survived and died. It was horrendous for all as they thought they were on an extremely modern and safe ship. Within the last 10 years a major movie was made. Many newspaper articles and interviews have occurred on the topic. This week I heard several documentaries. One documentary was on the band that played on the ship and how it played to almost the last minute. The band members got off the ship but because they were in the water they soon perished from hypothermia.


     Recent technology has enabled us to go down to the Titanic and look around. Again more was learned to explain what happened. Treasure seekers have been able to access the wreck. There is controversy regarding the ethics of taking things from the wreck. Salvagers assure us that the things the have were picked up from the ocean floor and not taken from the ship as the ship is considered a grave site.


     Survivors provided eye witness accounts of events. The last Titanic survivor died only a few years ago. Families are still able to name members who were lost in the disaster. 


     Many investigations have taken place as to why the Titanic sank. There is till some dispute as to what actually happened. The investigations have led to many rules to improve navigation and safety. The basic building of ships was changed so that the bulkheads would prevent water from moving from one compartment to another. The type of steel used to build ships was changed because of the Titanic sinking.


     It's difficult to consider the technology of the time. They did not have radar or sonar. They only had Morse code for a radio system. Visual sailing was all they had. They knew that this area could  have icebergs but they continued on. Other ships in the area stopped for the night.


    I think that today we have benefited from the Titanic disaster by having more reliable engineering practices. Laws have been enacted to enforce safety regulations. Life boat space and life jackets must be provided for all people on a ship.


    We have all benefited from this great tragedy. 100 years have provided us with much information. I'm sure there is still more to learn. We also must remember this tragedy.

Peregrine Falcon Web Cam

       I have just put on a link to a Peregrine Falcon nest. The nest is one placed on the top of a 100m (330 ft) tower in Red Deer Alberta. This is the third year the web cam has been placed on the tower. The first year three eggs hatched and all three birds fledged. Last year none of the eggs hatched and later in the summer the female was found dead under the tower. It is suspected that she succumbed due to a poison. Tests are being done on the body to see if it was poison and if so what poison.


     Now, the link for the Owl web cam has not been successful. This year the owls did not choose the nest. That site is showing still pictures from last year's web cam and also still pictures from the beaver web cam.


      Enjoy the season watching the web cam.

Millennium Madness: Remember It?

       Recently I have been thinking about the approach of the third millennium and all the hype surrounding it's approach. In the late 1990's more and more was being said and written about the approaching millennium. I'm sure that in back rooms discussion of the upcoming millennium occurred well before the late 90's. 


      Some of the issues reported seemed very practical. The computer issue was obvious. Computers had been inadequately programmed to show dates. So if changes weren't made a whole host of problems would occur with incorrect dates. When it came to legal, business, government and historical issues the possible effects were enormous. Frantic efforts were made to update the computer system to handle the 2000's in dates. Stories on this issue were common and they always emphasized the doubt about the success of changing computer programs. It made for good story telling. Stories abounded about a total computer collapse. So there was tremendous fear mongering. 


    Well, the millennium came and surprise, surprise the world of computers did not end. Nor did the world end.


      Aside from the computer issue there were many other wild stories about the coming of the millennium. The end of the worlders added their two cents worth. There were various groups who had reasons to predict that the end of the world would come. Many other religious groups had discussions as it related to their faith.


     When you think about it it seems like the millennium issue happened only recently. Twelve years have passed since that momentous change from one millennium to another. Slowly the issue has left our minds and it seems like a distant dream. I'm sure someday we will look back and ask what all the fuss was about.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

      Snow seems to be a popular topic on Hiawatha House. There have been four posts on snow in 2012.  I like snow and where I live we have some interesting snow occasions.

The lilac hedge full of snow

     Yesterday we had weather warnings for heavy snowfall. We were warned that we could get from 10 - 25 cm(4-10 in.) of snow. About 7:00 PM light snow started but it melted as it hit the ground. By 10:00 PM it was snowing heavily. I looked out at 2:00 and 4:00 AM and the sky was full of snow. If I wasn't so lazy I would have gone outside and taken a picture of the snow falling in the street light. 

The poor old car was heavily covered

     Now I know that I can blame this snow on followers in the north west U. S. The forecaster guy said that this system got organized in the north west U. S. So what happens is a moist Pacific air mass hits the west coast. Winds begin and a low pressure system forms. If conditions are right the low pressure system can become very large. As it moves eastward the winds will turn and blow toward the east side of the Rockies. The air mass has to rise as it approaches the Rockies. So when air rises and cools moisture drops out of it. That's where we come in and get the big dump of snow.

A snow laden juniper

    So this morning there was about 8 cm on the ground. Trees were covered. The temp was about minus 2 C or plus 27 F. Needless to say it was a very beautiful morning. 

You just have to look at these kids and you know they're having a ball.

My neighbor's house decorated with snow.

Reflections on my Career

   I originally posted this piece in 2009. I'll use the usual excuse when I repost something. "Nobody was reading me in 2009."


     I was a teacher for 37 years from 1958 to 1997. I taught in three provinces and one territory. I look back on my time with the feeling that I would do it all over again, but change some things which experience drilled into me.



    Now for starters, I have to be careful what I say because one of my previous administrators reads this blog. He's a wonderful human being but can be a bit critical at times. I might have to defend myself strenuously if I go too far out in left field.



     I took the compulsory administration's class in education. It was a survey course and explained and justified why the system was organized the way it was. The grade system was dealt with thoroughly.



     Looking back, some students jumped through the hoops (grades) willingly and paid their debt to society and got an education. However, not all students learned at the same rate or had the same learning style. So some kids had difficulties as they were not prepared or ready to learn the concepts being presented at a certain grade level. Some of these kids went on and never did pick up the concept and as a result were challenged later or met with failure. A simple example would be some student who did not learn to read in the primary grades. Some of the obvious behavior problems were a result of students not being ready for a concept and acting up because of the difficulties experienced.



     Now I'm not the only one to make these observations. Various attempts have been made to accommodate the variation in student readiness. "Continuous progress" - remember that one? Open classroom concept? Portfolios? These were attempts to solve the problem of different learning stages of the student population. They were good ideas and would have worked, but they didn't. A teacher was left with the same number of students and found the strategy too challenging so gradually backed into what they were doing previously .



     My favorite teaching assignment was to be given 12 to 15 students who were labeled as having problems. I was able to go away with these students and modify a program to where they were able to succeed. At the end of the year I would come back with my charges. Would they have achieved grade level? No! But they would have met with some success and avoided the hassles they would have met in the regular program.



     So it bugs me to some extent that I saw students experience problems because of a system which was set up to accommodate administration rather than a system set up to meet the needs of the individual student .

Somebody's Always "Gotta" Be The Bad Guy

      Somebody's always gotta be the bad guy. Somebody's always gotta rain on your party. Somebody's always gotta bring you the bad news. So here it is. I still have lots of snow! I was trying not to tell anybody as I thought it would go away. However, my snow is still here. So for all those people with flowers that are blooming and all those people who have green grass I hate to disappoint you with my news. For all the southerners who are experiencing hot weather I apologize. For my Australian readers who don't know snow, I'm sorry I have to tell you about snow.

My front yard

You've seen this before. My ski trail was here.

More of my ski trail.

    Now on a brighter note I saw a robin yesterday. This morning while I was doing snow pictures a robin gave it's warning. It was in a Mountain Ash right above my head. So you say "What are robins doing there with all that snow?" Robins are smarter than you think. They go on the ground and eat Mountain Ash berries that have fallen off the tree. 


     We had 12 hours and 47 minutes of sunlight today. With the coming of long days things develop very quickly here. We may have a late start but we catch up to everybody.